I'm at the SC09 conference this week, which is a hell of a time for me. Talk about the bleeding edge of technology, this is it.

Anyway, being the politico that I am, there were two stories today that I thought were amusing.

The first was the fact that on Thursday, Al Gore is speaking at this convention about how he is saving the world or something and how supercomputing is going to give him the xray vision he needs to see to the core of the earth and cool it or something. I'm not 100% sure. In any case I talked with a volunteer of the conference today, and she was lamenting that for his keynote address, they are asking volunteers for the show to actually block media from being observants in the event. If you're media, you're not welcome at the Al Gore keynote. You'll have to somehow get by the volunteers if you want in the event. No media allowed. That cracks me up.

The second was a story about Paul Wolfowitz in the 70's. Apparently, back then the US Navy had some sort of arrangement with the Indonesian government to use their third, uninhabited island as an outpost of some kind, provided they didn't cut down the lone palm tree that grew on that island - which was a sacred symbol to the people there - a lone pine tree on an island that was about the footprint of a 3000 square foot home there against all odds, and majestic in it's way. It turns out that the sensors that we needed to install (basically to give submarines vision in shallow waters) on that island just wouldn't work with that damned palm tree in the way, and when we asked to cut it down, the Indonesian locals were appalled at the suggestion. So Wolfowitz tells a guy to pitch a tent on that Island and start a camp fire, and oops, if that campfire spreads to the wild grasses and burnt down that tree... Oops on us. So the story I heard is that it finally took kerosene to burn that damned tree down, but once it was down, the sensor worked just fine.

The second was a story about Paul Wolfowitz in the 70's. Apparently, back then the US Navy had some sort of arrangement with the Indonesian government to use their third, uninhabited island as an outpost of some kind, provided they didn't cut down the lone palm tree that grew on that island - which was a sacred symbol to the people there - a lone pine tree on an island that was about the footprint of a 3000 square foot home there against all odds, and majestic in it's way. It turns out that the sensors that we needed to install (basically to give submarines vision in shallow waters) on that island just wouldn't work with that damned palm tree in the way, and when we asked to cut it down, the Indonesian locals were appalled at the suggestion. So Wolfowitz tells a guy to pitch a tent on that Island and start a camp fire, and oops, if that campfire spreads to the wild grasses and burnt down that tree... Oops on us. So the story I heard is that it finally took kerosene to burn that damned tree down, but once it was down, the sensor worked just fine.

Well, that doesn't surprise me. Classic Struassian Nobel Lie of a true NeoCon. Truly they are Machiavellians. This is who the conservatives are believing for information today. No wonder they were formerly commies—the biggest subversive liars in history.

Butcha can't tell us this because it's anecdotal and you heard it from someone. If a computer model told you, then it would be A-Okay!

blaise

11-19-2009, 07:18 AM

And now the island is haunted.

Joe Seahawk

11-19-2009, 10:31 AM

Gore (in his infinite wisdom) said in his speech that the core of the earth was "several million" degrees. ROFL

Al Gore on Conan O'Brien's show the other day:

Conan: Now, what about ... you talk in the book about geothermal energy ...

Al: Yeah, yeah.

Conan: and that is, as I understand it, using the heat that's generated from the core of the earth ...

Al: Yeah.

Conan: ... to create energy, and it sounds to me like an evil plan by Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Can you, can you tell me, is this a viable solution, geothermal energy?

Al: It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy -- when they think about it at all -- in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot ...

BigChiefFan

11-19-2009, 11:01 AM

Al is a conman. The carbon tax is a fraud. TRILLIONS of dollars to reduce the temperature by less than a percent? He started the carbon credits, with none other than, Ken Lay, the guru of the fraudulent company, Enron. What a joke. I wish the American people would wake up.

bowener

11-19-2009, 12:46 PM

Gore (in his infinite wisdom) said in his speech that the core of the earth was "several million" degrees. ROFL

Though I cannot be certain, I am pretty sure he just slipped up judging by the rest of his lines.

Al Gore on Conan O'Brien's show the other day:

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: Now, what about ... you talk in the book about geothermal energy...
AL GORE, NOBEL LAUREATE: Yeah, yeah.
O'BRIEN: ...and that is, as I understand it, using the heat that's generated from the core of the earth ...

GORE: Yeah.

O'BRIEN: ...to create energy, and it sounds to me like an evil plan by Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Can you, can you tell me, is this a viable solution, geothermal energy?

GORE: It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy - when they think about it at all - in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot ...

The geothermal gradient is usually quoted as 25–50 degrees Celsius per mile of depth in normal terrain (not, e.g., in the crater of Kilauea). Two kilometers down, therefore, (that's a mile and a quarter if you're not as science-y as Al) you'll have an average gain of 30–60 degrees — exploitable for things like home heating, though not hot enough to make a nice pot of tea. The temperature at the earth's core, 4,000 miles down, is usually quoted as 5,000 degrees Celsius, though these guysclaim it's much less, while some contrarian geophysicists have posted claims up to 9,000 degrees. The temperature at the surface of the Sun is around 6,000 degrees Celsius, while at the center, where nuclear fusion is going on bigtime, things get up over 10 million degrees.

If the temperature anywhere inside the earth was "several million degrees," we'd be a star.

Since he got to the point that the center of the sun was several million degrees, I would have to guess that he just slipped up and said millions instead of thousands for the Earth, but oh well.